Radical Acceptance

I spoke last evening in my classes about "Radical Acceptance" - accepting the present moment as if you had chosen it no matter what it may contain. Because, on some unseen level...you have.

Often we forget how incredibly powerful we actually are. Every day, as we move throughout our tasks and activities, what we are continually, habitually talking about and focusing on we are actually choosing for ourselves... often without realizing what we are funneling energy into. A person seeking health and wellness who speaks constantly about how bad they feel, how horrible it all is, how fat they are, how tired they are - is definitely NOT setting in motion the proper energy to create vibrant health. Imagine how different that person would feel if they accepted, fully, their condition and then started researching healthy recipes, visiting local markets, going for walks each evening and concentrating on what they could do each day to support their intention of health and wellness.  A person wishing to excel in their career or increase their income will not effectively do that by staying in the same dead-end job, or continuing to focus their precious energy on complaining instead of hitting the pavement with resume in hand or researching schooling opportunities that might help open some new doors.

One of the most interesting things about teaching yoga is that I actually get to witness people's transformation. I see their self-awareness increase exponentially, their bodies toning and changing, and a new confidence, a brightness in their disposition. But this doesn't happen with everyone. Often people begin the class thinking somehow they're going to finish 10 weeks and magically transform into a lean, strong, 120pd version of themselves. Ha! Not realizing that the class is really just the beginning. It's everything else they do, what the eat, how they think and how they feel the other 90% of the day that also needs to be in alignment.  It's those people who haven't learned the art of Acceptance.

When you fully accept exactly where you're at in THIS VERY MOMENT - then you have the power to affect real changes. You're acceptance requires courage. That's why I call it Radical. Sometimes everything in the fiber of our being will try to keep us in our comfortable ruts. Because it's familiar; it's what we know. It feels "easy". Changing, moving out of your comfort zone, can be a little unnerving, even scary. But if you can really accept, fully and truthfully, yourself, your life, all the choices you've made to get yourself where you are now - you are in a position to make wonderful things happen! Your radical acceptance means you take full responsibility for yourself and your life - without blame, without "buts". It's you. All you. It always has been and it always will be. You are the only thinker in your mind. The only person who controls you...is you.

Accepting that fully means you clear yourself from anything standing in the way of you and your deepest desire(s). Radical acceptance frees you from the past. It opens you up to attracting the support, the information and the resources you need to move forward in your life in the most empowering way. When you begin acting from a place of total acceptance you will be amazed at how differently people respond to you and how much better you feel.

Try it now. Spend the day without resistance. Act from a place of acceptance. Whatever happens today - respond to it as if you had chosen it. Entertain the idea, just for today, that perhaps you are more powerful than you give yourself credit for. Perhaps what you're focusing on, what you continually talk about and how you react to things is keeping you from moving forward into the life you really want.